How to cook celery

Information for celery in our free cooking ingredients collection.

Celery

Celery is a vegetable that is enjoyed for its crisp texture and distinctive flavor. A bunch of celery is actually a single stalk consisting of separate ribs, and the most tender, inner ribs are called the hearts. The crispness of celery comes from the rigidity of its cell walls and its high water content. In fact, celery is mostly water, which makes it low in calories and an ideal snack food.

Family - Umbelliferae
Scientific name - Apium graveolens L.
Common name - celery

A good source of vitamin C

Varieties

Although celery is available in many colors, most of the celery grown in the United States belongs to the green varieties, which range in shade from pale to dark and are referred to as Pascal. One common green variety is the American Green, also known as the Tall Utah or Greensnap, which does not require blanching (the banking of soil against the plant to keep it from turning dark green upon exposure to sunlight). Other varieties of celery include the Giant Pink, with pink or red stems and dark-green leaves; the Golden Self-Blanching, with pale, golden-yellow leaves and golden stems; and the Ivory Tower, a fast-maturing, self-blanching variety with pale leaves.

Origin and botanical facts

Wild celery is a biennial or annual herb native to southern Europe, Asia, and Africa, growing in marshes along the muddy banks of tidal rivers or in other saltwater areas. Although it resembles domestic celery, it is smaller, with a stronger, more pungent odor and flavor. Before the familiar milder, thick-stalked forms were cultivated, celery probably was used solely as a seasoning and medicinal herb. Leafy cultivated varieties may date back 2,000 years or more, but stalk celery seems to have been grown first in Italy in the 16th century. In the 1690s, John Evelyn, an English diarist, described celery as a new vegetable. Today, celery is grown in Great Britain, India, the United States, and Canada.

Celery requires a moist, rich soil for good growth. It is especially successful in low-lying, alkaline areas such as the eastern regions of Florida and Great Britain. Because of its high water content, celery requires large amounts of moisture; otherwise, the stalks become stringy and tough. Celery is propagated from seeds so tiny that it takes more than a million of them to add up to a pound. Most commercially grown celery is planted in March or April, in greenhouses or seedbeds with controlled watering.

About 2 months after sowing, when the seedlings are 4 to 6 inches tall, they are transplanted to fields. Varieties that require blanching usually are planted in trenches to facilitate the banking of the soil against the plants. Three to 4 months after field planting, celery is ready for harvesting.

How to cook celery

Celery that is light in color and shiny has the best flavor. Celery should be stored by the bunch in perforated plastic vegetable bags in the refrigerator crisper.

Celery is a versatile vegetable. Raw celery adds crunch to chicken, seafood, egg, potato, and green salads. It is an excellent snack food or appetizer. Celery also can be microwaved, stir-fried, braised, or steamed to serve as a main vegetable, but it usually is combined with other vegetables or is included in stuffings for poultry and fish. Celery even has been made into a uniquely flavored soft drink, Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray tonic.

• Chayote
• Chicory
• Chinese cabbage
• Collards
• Corn
• Cress (watercress)
• Cucumber
• Eggplant
• Fennel
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Horseradish

• Arugula
• Asparagus
• Bamboo
• Beets
• Bitter melon (balsam pear)
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Carrot
• Cassava
• Cauliflower
• Celeriac

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